Marvel Snapshot: Character Spotlight: Moondragon

Hello and welcome to another edition of Marvel Snapshot! In this week’s character spotlight, I’ll be focusing in on one of my favorite cosmic peeps, Moondragon! Yes, the one and only Heather Douglas will be this week’s spectacular character on display, so get ready for some space madness! Moonie was created in 1973 (Iron Man #54) by Bill Evrett, Mike Friedrich, and George Tuska!

Heather Douglas was just your average ordinary kid, when one day on a road trip with her parents, she saw something incredible. A spaceship landed near their car, but the pilot of the ship didn’t want any witnesses, so he blew up the car. The explosion catapulted Heather out of the car and out of harm’s way. Who would do such a vile thing? Thanos, that’s who! Heather was then picked up and adopted by Mentor of Titan, and raised in the ways of his people. Mentor also used the dead corpse of Heather’s father to construct the being known as Drax the Destroyer!

After her training on Titan, she eventually made her way to Earth. It didn’t take long for her to become part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers! Her first big story was alongside the Avengers battling Thanos. This would be a recurring theme with her ties to the mad Titan. She was next selected by Kang the Conqueror, as one chosen to mother a child that would possibly become a savior in the story Celestial Madonna. In it, we saw Moondragon, Mantis, Scarlet Witch, and Agatha Harkness get abducted by Kang in order to find out which one of them is going to bear the child who shall become the savior of the universe. Of course, the Avengers are pitted against Kang, and also the Avengers get an assist from Rama-Tut. In my opinion, this is the best Avengers story ever, period.

After that, Moondragon has a run in with Thor, and ends up getting put in her place by Odin. She then travels with Drax to a planet that is constantly at war with another. She abuses her mental powers by taking away their freedom of choice, and forcing them to get along. This starts a downward spiral for her, and then she finds out that subtly she’s been being influenced all along by the Dragon of the Moon. She desperately tries to get away from its grip, but fails in the end. Later yet, she was involved with Annihilation, as her and Phyla-Vell had to fight off Thanos, help free the Silver Surfer and Galactus, then help thwart Annihilus’s plans. Afterward, she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, alongside the likes of Starlord, Mantis, and a host of others. This series is another one of my all time favorites as well.

As usual, check out my recommended reading list and some great covers below! See you next week!